Aldi customer finds half a rat in frozen vegetable

The store has pulled the brand from shelves and has opened an investigation into the case

A customer has found half a dead rat at the bottom of a bag of frozen vegetables, bought at discount supermarket Aldi.

According to reports Pat Bateman had just finished feeding her two-year-old daughter and noticed the rodent when putting the vegetables back into the freezer.

Aldi initially offered her £30 off her next shop, later increased to £550.

Bateman told media: “It was nearly empty so that’s why I spotted something that looked out of place in the bottom of the bag. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I pulled it out. It just looked like half a rat. It had fur on it. I showed my husband and because it was frozen we left it to defrost before taking another look at it.”

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An internal Aldi report said: “An investigation is under way to identify the root cause and implement corrective action to prevent any re-occurrence before production restarts.”

In a statement, the supermarket said: “Following Mrs Bateman’s complaint, we removed this product from sale to prevent any further issues. We have suspended all orders from this production site whilst we investigate this matter.”